


Post Tenebras Lux

by QuillerQueen



Series: Bread and Games [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, Backstory, Character Death, Established Robin Hood/Marian, Flashbacks, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 05:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14037186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuillerQueen/pseuds/QuillerQueen
Summary: Prompt 31: Robin’s backstory for any story or as a stand alone for the one we were promised. A fragment of his Bread and Games backstory - flashback to the day Roland was born.





	Post Tenebras Lux

They’d done everything right, and still their prayers had not been heard.

Their house was not the home Robin had ridden down his horse to reach. Rundown and quiet, it exuded the stench of tragedy overpowering the fresh scent of lemongrass. Stumbling through the threshold, Robin blinked into the near-dark. Marian’s name was born and died on his tongue before it could pass his lips, over and over, as he searched frantically for a candle, knocking over sparse furniture and flinging aside useless statuettes of gods and goddesses who didn’t give a flying fuck about mortals anyway. Not Juno, not Carmentis, not even Matuta had lifted a divine bloody finger.

_They didn’t make it._

No—the blasted midwife didn’t know what she was talking about. His wife couldn’t be dead. Their son, barely out of the womb, could not be dead.

There she lies sprawled on the bed ( _their_ bed, and oh how he wishes the Fates had given them more time), her hips at an odd angle from the supporting pillow, her matted hair strewn over bloodied, sweat-stained sheets. His Marian, his wonderful wife, consumed by fevers and seizures and the strenuous task of childbirth. She’d given her life to bring a new one into the world.

He should have been there. But he hadn’t been, had been off fighting other men’s wars instead, while his family’d struggled to make ends meet. He should have deserted the moment she’d hinted at the slightest discomfort, but she’d never revealed how bad things had really been. No, she’d had him stay, had him wait for his service to end ( _only a few months left, Robin, I can manage until then, and with luck, you’ll be back just in time to welcome our son into the world_ ), and once free, Robin had done his best, had driven the poor beast to its demise at the gates of Rome just to be at her side.

In the end, none of that mattered. Marian had crossed into the Underworld, her vibrant self reduced to a pale shade, and all he could do for her now was ensure a smooth passage into the Elysium.

For her, and for their son.

He was tiny, gods, so very tiny in the heap of wool bandages placed by his mother’s side. Tiny, and helpless, and perfectly still. Unlike Marian, contorted and sickly pale, the tot seemed merely to be sleeping.

Robin took him in his arms and watered the precious, fragile bundle with hot tears. Sobs tore at his chest as he wept, choking on rage and grief, filling the wretched room with broken cries and high-pitched wails.

Wails much too weak, much too frail to be his own.

Through the tears, Robin saw a miracle—a perfect little miracle waving tiny arms and kicking little feet, clamouring for attention. His son, burning with the same fever that made him half orphan but clinging to life still, opened his eyes, large and dark like his mother’s. With a single look, he captured Robin’s heart, leaving an indelible imprint.

Nine days later, he was given a name and a bulla around his neck for protection from evil. Even so, it took weeks of squealing and thrashing, of ceaseless cries and frightening periods of complete stillness, before Roland’s fevers subsided; and months before sleep returned to Robin in more than anxious spasms.

They made it through, however, father and son, thick as thieves ever since.


End file.
